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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



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EFORMATION. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



^ Shelf __i:^;_'.^' 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



The 



New Reformation 



A LAY SERMON 



By Prognostic 




Published by The Author 

Address: New York P. O. 






Copyright 

BY 

J. VAN BUREN 

1890. 



All Rights Reserved, 




3 ? -» 

> 
S 



To Unhappy and Oppressed Humanity 

Everywhere ) 3^ 

IS Dedicated this little Volume, 

AND 

Any Possible Service 

BY 

ITS Author. 



In that hour, Jesus rejoiced in spirit and said, I 
thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou 
didst hide these things from the wise and understanding, 
and didst reveal them unto babes." 

" Many shall come from the east and the west, and shall 
sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the king- 
dom of heaven." 

** For which of you, desiring to build a tower, doth not 
first sit down and count the cost, whether he have where- 
with to complete it." 

*' So, therefore, whosoever he be of you that renounceth 
not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple." 

" A man had two sons ; and he came to the first and 
said, 'Son, go work to-day in the vineyard;' And he 
answered and said, * I will not ;' but afterward he repented 
himself and went. And he came to the second, and said 
likewise. And he answered and said, * I go sir;' and went 
not. Whether of the twain did the will of his father." 

" Therefore by their fruits ye shall know them. Not 
every one that sayeth unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter 
into the kingdom of heaven." 

** All things therefore whatsoever ye would that men 
should do unto you, even so do ye also unto them." 

*' Except your righteousness abound more than that of 
the Scribes and Pharisees, ye shall surely not enter into 
the kingdom of heaven." 

" But thou when thou prayest, enter into thine inner 
chamber, and having shut thy door, pray to thy Father 
which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret 
shall reward thee openly." 

*' Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he send 
forth laborers into his harvest." 



PREFACE. 

When Jesus gave thanks that certain things 
had been concealed from the learned and were 
revealed to others, he evidently, by babes, did not 
mean persons with imperfect or immature m.inds, 
but doubtless, those who were prone to reason from 
first principles as distinguished from those who 
rehed for wisdom on much acquiring of the ideas 
of others. 

The following pages are not offered as an orac- 
ular deliverance on the subjects treated, but are 
expected, rather, to stimulate and influence thought 
by a suggestion of obvious facts and inferences 
such as seem to have a vital bearing on current 
beliefs and the march of events, 



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The New Reformation. 



GOD AND HUMANITY. 



The article with the above caption from the pen 
of the popular author of Robert Elsmere, together 
with the later discussion of Agnostic Criticism, by 
Doctor Wace and Professor Huxley, have attracted 
world-wide attention. The reason for this is ap- 
parent, since there are no questions so nearly affect- 
ing each one of the unnumbered millions of the 
earth's inhabitants as these : What is God ? What 
will He have me to do? 

While the distinguished disputants have cer- 
tainly handled the subject with great professional 
skill and ability, there is an apparent disposition to 



8 THE NEW REFORMATION. 

form nice distinctions — a manifest attemxpt to nar- 
row the subject — which is not conducive to a can- 
did consideration of the whole vital matter. If, 
howe\'er, the learned professor and the astute nov- 
elist have presented their whole case, it is rather a 
matter of surprise that a sect with such a wide noto- 
riety should not rest on a more substantial basis. 

To know that authors of such known ability 
have written lengthy arguments, founded on their 
convictions against any belief, is to feel that some 
such belief, of more or less stability, is in danger, 
and we approach the perusal of their arguments 
with some degree of trepidation, which, howe\'er, 
rapidly disappears as we read, and discover only 
the old doubts of the old and new German critics, 
many of whose conclusions are now being scout- 
ed, first by their cotemporaries, and later by them- 
selves. 

While there is doubtless much truth in the as- 
sertion of Professor Huxley, that the English theo- 
logians refuse to give to the German discoveries 



THE NEW REFORMATION. 



due weight, that claim is easily balanced by the 
German a\idity for something on which to hinge a 
doubt. 

It is the writer's opinion that a belief in a Su- 
preme Being that is a religious belief, should not 
rest on the researches of certain learned men — 
that in this matter of all others, each human 
being of accountability should think for himself, se- 
lect his own premises, and arrive at his own con- 
clusions regardless of the superior intelligence or 
research of any one. 

While it is true that Professor Huxley assures 
us that in order to understand agnoticism, it is quite 
necessary to have a coniplete knowledge of history, 
philosophy and physical science, the inducement 
offered is not sufficient compensation for the labor 
involved. Most of us have neither time, inclina- 
tion, brains or erudition to delve among the ancient 
Greek and Roman authorities in order to form a 
correct judgment as to the authenticity of certain 
ancient manuscripts. Neither will it do to follow 



lO THE NEW REFORMATION. 

the careful and learned critic, for while he may be 
able to fully convince us to-day of the truth of his 
deductions, his successors of the next century may 
make a discovery that will annihilate his establish- 
ed convictions, to which we have pinned our faith 
or unbelief. 

A more pertinent inquiry than this is: Does 
the simple story of the gospel itself, taken as an 
entity and alone — apart from all preconceived no- 
tions, and explanations and commentaries which have 
been so long received and believed, if not as a part, 
at least of equal authority with the gospel, and of- 
ten taught instead of it — do these simple statements 
then of doctrine and duty, commend themselves to 
my individual judgment as the truth; and do not 
the doctrines of the gospel supply the only rational 
theory of man's existence in the universe; and the 
only rule of life that is at all consistent with what 
we know of life itself — of humanity and that other 
greater existence through which humanity has and 
maintains being; and does not the history of its 



THE NEW REFORMATION. II 

transmission to us down the ages, indicate that it 
is the object of more than human origin and care? 

It is therefore with a purpose of taking a prac- 
tical, common-sense — at the same time brief and 
comprehensive view of this whole important subject, 
that the writer has ventured to offer the followTng 
thoughts, in the hope that some one may be in 
some measure assisted to a correct conclusion, who 
is now halting in the midst of a diversity of creeds 
and beliefs. There will be no attempt to make an 
exhaustive argument in defense of Christianity, or 
even to prove the facts stated, but rather to offer 
suggestions which are self evident, or which lead 
directly to thoughts or information within reach of 
all, which are useful in weighing these matters. 

Within the last five years the thinking world 
has been mightily stirred by a few master spirits on 
the subject of man's relation to God and to his fel- 
low man. These do no not hesitate to predict a 
mighty revolution, some in religion, some in social 
institutions in the near future of the world's history. 



12 THE NEW REFORMATION. 

Looking from different standpoints, and all agree- 
ing as to the necessity for reform, they differ as to 
the cause, the agent and the result of this upheaval; 
and there is certainly much in each, that, after 
thoughtfully sifting, we are constrained to reject. 
They are called fanatics by the wise men of our day 
— un'formally and without hesitation. Yet these 
savants are not a little disturbed by the reflection 
that each step in the advance from darkness into light, 
every important movement which has led to the 
uplifting of the human race to a higher plane of life, 
has been inaugurated by some one whom the wise 
men of his day placed in the same category. Tak- 
ing the revelations of Jesus as a basis and adding 
to these the best indications of the times, without 
presuming to meddle with dates, we ought to profit 
by a thoughtful consideration of what are recog- 
nized as facts in plain sight. 

Let us see then if there is not some ground on 
which we can stand in common with even our ag- 
nostic brethren. I think we all agree that there is 



THE NEW REFORMATION. I3 

a God. This is amply attested by the horror de- 
picted on each agnostic page when called infidel, 
as with holy' hands uplifted they disclaim the title. 
Having agreed thus far — What is God ? Undoubt- 
edly a Being with attributes beyond human con- 
ception, but from what we know His power and 
wisdom and goodness transcend anything human 
or earthly in such great degree that we are not 
able to make a comparison between the divine and 
human attributes that is at all intelligible, or that is 
received by the race with any degree of unanimity. 
Now there is, as stated, a vast expanse of differ- 
ence between the known attributes of God and those 
of man. This expanse the human race is now tra- 
versing, and has been for ages, in the direction of 
God. The progress attained in that direction de- 
pends largely on the assistance rendered by the 
greater power to the less ; by the divine to the hu- 
man. This assistance is always available when the 
conditions are complied with, and in proportion as 
these concessions are made by the human, so is the 



14 THE NEW REFORMATION. 

assistance furnished by the divine. The advance- 
ment toward Godhke power and wisdom, and good- 
ness is in exact proportion to the amount of inspir- 
ation suppHed by the divine to the human, and this 
is regulated by the extent to which the human is 
able to utilize certain elements of the divine nature; 
and this ability is commensurate v/ith the belief of 
the human in the power and willingness of the di- 
vine, to supply this assistance, as well as complete 
submission to the divine will, and various degrees 
of this power, and wisdom, and goodness are evi- 
denced by the different nations of the earth, and 
their progress Godward for the past ages, except 
where the gospel has not been heard ; there the 
progress has not been realized. The advancement 
made, has under the most favorable conditions, been 
insignificant compared to the possibilities under a 
complete regime of Christianity, under which the 
doctrines of Jesus in their purity would be practiced 
by all the human race or any considerable contigu- 
ous portion of it. 



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JESUS AND THE GOSPEL. 

On another point we doubtless agree. Xhe 
standard of human virtue and right set forth in the 
gospel, is the same as that accepted by the highest 
human intelligence, although no considerable num- 
ber of human beings have ever attained to that 
standard. That this was first taught by Jesus of 
Nazareth to his followers, and that it differs from 
any standard previously set up, is certainly signifi- 
cant ; and the fact that this conception of duty has 
led the world higher and higher for nearly two 
thousand years in its strivings after light and truth, 
and is still far in advance, beckoning onward the 
brightest and wisest of earth, and those immersed 
in the blackest darkness, holding out to each a gos- 
pel of light and peace, with pabulum as fit for the 



1 6 THE NEW REFORMATION. 

one as for the other — should in itself furnish strong 
proof of its divine origin. Its simple truths are in 
themselves a miracle of adaptation to the spiritual 
wants of the strictest Pharisee and the most degraded 
barbarian of the Christian era, and equally suited 
to the needs of the lowest tribe of Terra del Fue- 
gans and the most enlightened nations of the pres- 
ent day; and I submit that if we stand upon the 
Gospel, pure and simple, its declarations, its injunc- 
tions and its promises, and look toward the best 
that earth and humanity have to offer, the same 
gulf yawns at our feet that divides the known attri- 
butes of God from those of man. 

The exact relation existing between God 
the Father, and Christ the Son, must e^er 
remain somewhat a mystery to our finite minds. 
The miraculous conception of Mary, the sub- 
sequent advent into the world of a being heralded 

as the promised Messiah and Son of God — are all 
events, to comprehend which, the human naind is 
inadequate. How much of Jesus was divine, how 



THE NEW REFORMATION. 17 

much human, and in what consists the exact differ- 
ence between the divine and human nature, must 
to humanity ever remain matters of profitless con- 
jecture; nor is it essential that w^e be permitted to 
look into the divine plan beyond that portion in 
which we are to take part; for our knowledge of 
the divine attributes, our daily experience with his 
tender solicitude for our lightest sorrow, the blessed 
assurance that " not a sparrow falleth " without it 
— all this is such that we may well rest without a 
solution of these miysteries. 

But that portion of the divine plan in which we 
are to participate is designedly not left to conjec- 
ture. The gospel trumpet produces no uncertain 
sound as to the effect this exhibition of the infinite 
mercy and condescension of the Creator is to have 
on the future of as many of the human race, as can 
be persuaded to sit down to the feast of fat things, 
provided for their edification. It is equally clear 
with regard to man's duty toward God and toward 
his fellowman. 



1 8 THE NEW REFORMATION. 

In the ''Sermon on the Mount," is laid down 
enough practical instruction for anyone who will 
lay hold of it and practice it with such faith as the 
Teacher possessed, and strove with but indifferent 
success to inspire in his disciples during his life, to 
raise him at once to the plane of life which it was 
designed by the Creator that man should occupy. 
The influence of one such life in convincing the 
world of truth, is evidenced by the very consider- 
able number of the inhabitants of earth who have 
enrt)lled themselves beneath the banner of the 
cross, mainly because His life was a perfect one, 
and a faithful exposition of the truth He taught. 

There is a disposition among men to under- es- 
timate the power and willingness of the Creator to 
confer upon man certain divine attributes. There 
is doubtless, also a misapprehension as to the differ- 
ence between the known attributes of God, and 
those of man. God is not omnipotent in the sense 
that He can do a wrong or change an edict of His 
eternal law, or take away from man his birth- right 



THE NEW REFORMATION. I9 

— that is the free spirit with which He endowed 
him at his creation ; neither is He omniscient in the 
sense that he knows now what the free spirit of 
man will elect to do in a certain contingency in the 
future. The divine power and influence is exercis- 
ed entirely by His Spirit on the spirit of man. The 
soul of man is free to reject the influence of this 
Spirit. The spirit of man is the indestructable part 
of man, in fact, is the man; and this it is that ac- 
cepts God and becomes subservient to His will. 
This communion of spirit with spirit — this uplifting 
of the soul, made possible by the infinite conde- 
scension of the Creator, is the one link that binds 
man to God. 

That man is the only one of God's physical 
creations which He endowed with a soul, and that 
He created him in His own image, is proof enough 
that there is something Godlike in his composition; 
and the difference between the attributes of the 
Redeemer of Mankind as he trod the earth, and 
those of a m.an created in God's own image, actu- 



20 THE NEW REFORMATION. 

ated by the mind that was in Christ purified and 
filled with the Holy Spirit, and a sublime faith in 
God; — this difference, though hard to estimate, is 
not to be compared to the gulf that separates an 
unregenerate man from God. 









CHRISTIANITY AND ITS EXPOSITORS. 

The Christian Church has its worst enemies, 
not in the infidel and the agnostic, but they are those 
of its own household. This is true, because a large 
portion — the larger portion it is feared — do not be- 
lieve what they profess ; of course they believe that 
Christ is divine ; they do this mechanically, as a 
matter that requires no thought, no deliberation, 
no special or peculiar duties, or rule of life ; but 
their manner of expressing this belief — not by their 
words, but by their actions, which speak loudest — 
is so entirely similar to that in which the infidel 
expresses his unbelief, that he who is studying the 
subject for facts to lead him to a decision, is often 
puzzled to discover any real difference; and it is 



22 THE NEW REFORMATION. 

not unusual when there is any difference, to find 
that it is in favor of the unbehever ; in other words 
the disciple's professed belief in the statements of 
Jesus, is denied by his life. 

If the church — and I mean the whole church, 
Catholic and Protestant, priest and layman — be- 
lieved what the Gospel teaches in the simplest lan- 
guage, and taught it by precept and example, the 
problem of reaching the masses, so harrassing to 
the earnest worker of to-day, would solve itself 

The learned ministers of all ages, from Paul to 
the popes and arch-bishops, and bishops and doc- 
tors of the present age, have exhausted their eru- 
dition in discovering and solving real or fancied 
problems from the sermons of Jesus, and those of 
their learned brethren who preceded them. The 
task they have set before themselves is not to pre- 
sent the Gospel teachings in their simple, direct and 
obvious meaning, as that would not involve the 
exhibition of much learning; but to explain the in- 
terpretations of others in a manner which satisfies 



THE NEW REFORMATION. 23 

their own sect, while it fails to satisfy the vast ma- 
jority of believers. 

The further they are able to peer into the dark- 
ness of the past ages, the more authority they give 
to the interpretations they find there, so that those 
of Paul are esteemed par excellence, of equal au- 
thority with the revelations of Jesus himself, and 
the majority of sermons dehvered to-day are found- 
ed on what Paul (whose teachings are far less 
simple than those of Jesus), believed Jesus meant 
to teach. This is not the fault of Paul himself, but 
only of his worshippers. He bitterly bewails, as 
we all must, the utter inability of the human soul 
and body — even with such divine help as he had — 
to enjoy perfect immunity from damaging tempta- 
tions to do evil. 

That Paul was a man of giant intellect and su- 
blime faith and devotion to the cause, and that his 
thoughts were crystallized by him into written 
language, while those of Jesus reach us through a 
variable medium: — of each of these facts there can 



24 THE NEW REFORMATION. 

be no question; but Paul was a man, and his 
thoughts clearly bear the imprint of humanity, 
while those of Jesus as clearly bear the impress of 
Deity. Paul should therefore be permitted to take 
his place as a man, though his insistence on this 
privilege is only taken as additional proof of his 
infallibility. The result of this course on the part 
of the exponents of the Christian religion has been: 
I St — Much time has been spent in trying to teach 
Paul, which would have been more effectually em- 
ployed in preaching the simple Gospel; and 2nd — 
They have succeeded in utterly befogging in the 
minds of the average hearer and reader, what was 
and is a very simple matter. 

There is a great number of notable and honor- 
able exceptions to this rule, to whose clear under- 
standing of, and devotion to, the simple truth I 
hasten to do full justice. 

There is implanted in human nature, a desire 
— an irresistible desire — to worship something. The 
object for which the desire is felt is not necessarily 



THE XEW REFORMATION. 25 

a Supreme Being ; it may be an idol, and the idol 
may be another human being ; it may be, and more 
frequently is, self than any other object. No\v the 
object worshipped is that which controls the affec- 
tions, the thoughts, the life of the worshipper. If 
it be the Creator, then he will be first in the affec- 
tions, the thoughts, the life ; not to the exclusion of 
or detraction from any worthy object, but to the 
entire exclusion of anything incompatible with the 
divine character. These are axioms taught by the 
great Teacher as well as by our daily experience 
and observation. 

Now it is only rational that if we have believed 
that God is our Creator and that Christ is our Re- 
deemer, and that therefore we are their creatures, we 
should submit ourselves to the divine will as far as 
revealed to us; further, we should love and worship 
these divine beings above all earthly, and render 
to them our highest service, and obey the injunc- 
tions of the Son, as set forth in the plainest of 
burning words in the Gospel. These are not elab- 



26 THE NEW REFORMATION. 

orate creeds but plain directions, applicable to the 
every day life of any one. They are so clear, and 
contain withal such complete knowledge of our 
weak and fallen nature ; such tender solicitude for 
our helpless humanity; and provide so fully for 
every contingency in life, and every want, that he 
who believes it all cannot avoid a deep feeling of 
wonder and gratitude. 

Let us be as clear as we are able in our estimate 
of the simple Gospel. This revelation of a new 
rule of life for man, founded on the eternal law, was 
made by the Savior in the only tongue intelligible 
to his hearers in such phrase or idiom as was most 
easily understood by them. 

It was the custom of that age and country to 
state truth in an indirect manner,while it is the crown- 
ing and growing virtue of our language and time, to 
state facts in clear and direct phrase. Yet it has 
come now to be understood that language is an 
imperfect medium for conveying thought; and in 
this is the wisdom of Jesus displayed, for the im- 



THE NEW REFORMATION. 27 

pressions made by his life and teachings give to us 
a better conception of his meaning, than his wri- 
tings could have given. These revelations were 
made to a people to whose care the true religious 
faith had been committed ages before, but in whose 
keeping it had degenerated into a system composed 
largely of mere forms and superstitions, without at 
all retaining the true spirit of the original faith. 

In this system were included many beliefs in 
demons and spirits which we find difficult to har- 
monize with an intelligent view of the spirit of the 
Gospel doctrines ; and it is possible that the impres- 
sions in which the evangelists were reared, clung 
to them through their earnest effort to give a faith- 
ful account of the doings of Jesus; and in spite of 
these efforts may have colored some of their nar- 
ratives. We do not say that such was the case, 
but it may have been ; and we do not believe these 
accounts were written by men who could not make 
a mistake, but that they were inapt students of the 
Gospel doctrine is easily shown by their own state- 



28 THE NEW REFORMATION. 

ments. Yet they were doubtless the best the world 
afforded, and they only furnish another instance of 
the poor material divinity has always been obliged 
to employ in its work when using humanity. 

The saying of Jesus, that of all others seems 
to embody the sentiment of his life, is this: *'I came 
not to be ministered unto, but to minister," not to 
be served, but to serve. His whole life was spent 
in personifying this sentiment. He sought out the 
poor, the sick, the oppressed, and dwelt among 
them, ministering to their wants and healing their 
infirmities, and rebuking the scribes and Pharisees 
'' who sat in Moses' seat and laid upon men's shoul- 
ders, burdens grievous to be borne, but they 
themselves would not move them with a finger/' 
and last but not least, he preached the Gospel 
to them, and they listened and believed — for 
had he not won his way to their hearts before 
preaching ? 

" I came to minister," this is the key-note to 
the doctrine of Christianity. Drummond well says 



THE NEW REFORMATION. 29 

it is love, though it is not theoretical, but practical 
love — ministry — help. 

The mission of Christ was and is to lift human- 
ity, and humanity itself is the divinely appointed 
instrument in the work of to-day. Then a Chris- 
tian must be willing and eager to minister to the 
world. The world means anyone, everyone. To 
minister is not to give, though it may include this; 
but it is to use the means at hand to help — not only 
the poor, but all with whom we come in contact. 
There is only one way to be a Christian : that is to 
follow Christ; be like Christ; get away from self. 
"Thou shalt have no other Gods." 

Reader, if you are a Christian do something for 
someone who needs help and thus exemplify the spirit 
that was in Christ; then having sacrificed something 
for your fellow being you have a right to call yourself 
by a name that indicates you are His disciple; per- 
haps then he will listen to your Gospel story which 
having been illustrated by you, he can better un- 
derstand and easier believe, 



THE NEW REFORMATION. 



If you are not a Christian, do not judge Chris- 
tianity by the recreant professor, who plainly does 
not believe all the teachings of the Savdor ; but ev- 
idently thinks he must have been mistaken in some 
of the more important teachings. The popular 
conception of a Christian life is that the model 
Christian leads two lives; one for the church edifice, 
where he is to be found with varying regularity, 
devout behavior, and good will and charity for all 
mankind; and where he practices what religion and 
faith he deems essential, and the other for work 
and pleasure where he is not easily to be distin- 
guished from the respectable unbeliever. His 
pursuit of the almighty dollar is as unflagging, and 
his desertions of the narrow path of rectitude to soil 
his hands in the ditches and morasses which envi- 
ron it when they lie betw^een him and his idol, are 
as marked and frequent as those of men of baser 
metal. Yet does he not pay tithes of all he has, 
and make long prayers standing in the synagogues, 
thanking God that he is not as other men are, an(4 



THE NEW REFORMATION. 3 1 

Striving to be heard for his much speaking ? Phy- 
lacteries either broad or narrow, are now out of 
style; likewise, praying on the street corners; but the 
chief seats are still in request. 

Of course no one ought to pretend that this is 
the doctrine of Jesus, for it evidently belongs to a 
much older system of worship which he did not 
approve. 

In direct contrast with this is what seems to be 
the crying need of this time, namely, a religion that 
like an undergarment fits us closely, and is worn at 
all times, keeping astir within us that warmth and 
life so conducive to comfort and healthful existence 
by protecting us from sudden and damaging expo- 
sures ; not like a cloak of fine cloth, to be worn 
only on gala days when we wish to appear well be- 
fore men. It is worthy of note, that the only occa- 
sions when Jesus was especially bitter in his denun- 
ciation, was when considering an abundance of 
leaves giving great promise of fruit while the fruit 
was entirely lacking. And now, dear nonprofessor, ] 



32 THE NEW REFORMATION. 

would suggest that after having decided that the 
Gospel is the way of life, join in with a hearty pur- 
pose to help raise the standard. Unless this be 
your purpose, remain outside ; for you will only be 
a dead weight. 

It is a mistake to suppose it is numbers and 
wealth the church needs. It is first an increase of 
that savour with which the world is to be salted — 
of the leaven which is to leaven the whole lump. 

Another mistake is to assume that the Hfe of a 
Christian is one of sorrow and tribulation. The 
declaration of Jesus, that his yoke is easy, and his 
burden light, is literally true in practice. It is only 
the neck that wears the yoke half on, that becomes 
galled, and the shoulders, that strive to shirk part 
of the burden that are bruised; and the heart that 
only half believes that becomes sore under the re- 
sultant friction of a contact of spiritual and tempo- 
ral things. The writer is especially fitted to afiirm 
this, having, he believes, worn the yoke in both 
ways ; and he feels confident that the experience of 



THE NEW REFORMATION. 33 

all Others, if candidly stated, would corroborate him 
in this regard. 

There is often seen in the life of one who strives 
earnestly to be a follower of Christ, a great discre- 
pancy in the degree of faithfulness with which he 
pursues his calling at different times, under appar- 
ently similar circumstances. This is accounted for 
by his failure to appreciate that the grace of God 
is given to us daily for our daily use, and only on 
our fervent desire ; it is not given to us at long in- 
tervals in sufficient supply to keep us from tempta- 
tion for a long period of time. Human weakness 
is such that we require new and daily supplies of 
the divine unction to keep us safe from the tempta- 
tions to err in thought, word and deed, which con- 
tinually environ us. If we ask in good faith, the 
unfailing supply is at our command ; but unless we 
are entirely sensible of our weakness, as well as of 
the divine power and willingness to help, we are apt 
to neglect to place ourselves daily in His care. To 
the true disciples of Jesus of which there are many 



34 THE NEW REFORMATION. 

times seven thousand who have neither bowed the 
knee to Baal, nor aspired to the righteousness of 
scribes, but who have drunk deep at the fountain 
of Gospel Truth, and move in the inspiration re- 
ceived from a familiar acquaintance with the gems 
of revelation and injunction therein contained — to 
these we need only say: — Be not discouraged when 
you find it easier to obey all the injunctions of Jesus 
than that one of PauPs: — '' Let not then your good 
be evil spoken of," for the lips of the envious man, 
be he known as saint or sinner, will not be sealed, 
strive ye never so unselfishly, or succeed ye never 
so completely in maintaining a clear conscience 
before God and man. 






TOLSTOI AND BELLAMY. 

Of the writers who have attracted general at- 
tention, Count Tolstoi and Edward Bellamy each 
seem rather than the others named to take a broad- 
er view of the material and spiritual world ; and at 
the same time to lay hold of it without gloves, and 
to handle it with the naked hand of genius in an 
effort to mould it back into a comely form, where 
it has so greatly gone awry. Whatever may be 
their failure as they descend to the intricate and 
practical working out of the details, each seems to 
have touched a chord attuned to the spirit of the 
future. The Count goes back to the Greek, and 
by a careful, exhaustive analysis of some of the 
p'hrases in the injunctions contained in the Sermon 



36 THE NEW REFORMATION. 

on the Mount, construes them with quite another 
meaning from that accepted by the church ; and 
though some of his conclusions appear to be arbitra- 
ry, yet as a whole his exposition of the Spirit of 
Christ's teachings is quite rational, and a fair con- 
struction of the language used. He declares that the 
teachings and practice of the Christian church are 
strangely at variance with the doctrine of Jesus. He 
believes he has made out a strong case as he con- 
strues: — *' Resist not evil," and '' Judge not," to for- 
bid all violence in punishment of misdoing, even if by 
legal authority ; and that all war is by this prohib- 
ited. Swear not at all, is a condemnation of any 
oath and the divorced woman, he who marries her, 
and he who '' looketh upon a woman to lust after 
her," are alike adulterous. *' Love your enemies" 
becomes: Love strangers as w^ell as your country- 
men, for all are brothers. He believes that no- 
thing but the fulfilment of this doctrine of Jesus 
will give true happiness to men; that it is "possible, 
easy and pleasant," and that it is his duty to practice 



THE NEW REFORMATION. 57 

it though all others refuse. He does not believe in 
individual existence after death, and goes into other 
abstract deductions where there is no practical profit 
in following him, and while there is much that is 
interesting and instructive in his writings, many of 
his deductions seem unwarranted, his estimates of 
abuses intemperate and some of his teachings im- 
practical. He condemns unsparingly the social 
system of ours and past centuries ; and depicts 
with graphic pen the wretchedness of the poor, es- 
pecially in large cities, consequent on their penury, 
as well as the miseries of the rich caused by their 
excesses. He denies the doctrine of total deprav- 
ity, and affirms the universal brotherhood and 
equality of man ; and looks forward to a golden 
age when man shall dwell with his brother in love, 
and sin and suffering be practically extinct. These 
are the three points of agreement between him and 
Bellamy. 

The most marked difference is that while the 
Count hinges his entire discourses on religion. 



38 THE NEW REFORMATION. 

Bellamy ignores it entirely as an agent of reform ; 
though unlike Bellamy, Tolstoi suggests no con- 
certed, systematic, comprehensive and practical 
remedy for the evils he deplores, except that each 
man practice the doctrine of Jesus for himself, and 
thus influence his neighbor. The most notable 
feature of his life is that he reduces to practice what 
he teaches, and though a wealthy Russian noble- 
man of high rank, he lives and labors with the 
peasants on his large estate, and esteems himself 
one of them, while he devotes his mental powers to 
enlightening the world — whose ear he has — as to 
his peculiar views and deductions and beliefs, and 
to making a new translation of the Gospel with 
copious notes. 

His latest book is enjoying a phenomenal run 
among a large class of readers — to promote which, 
Russia's Czar and our Postmaster General have 
united with the publishers ; these have been antag- 
onized by Judge Thayer, who decided that there 
Avas nothing immoral in the book. Like his other 



THE NEW REFORMATION. 39 

books, it contains much truth, and clothes in vigor- 
ous language his estimate of afifairs about which we 
do not write, but talk with bated breath. The 
estimate is unusually intemperate even for him, and 
his deductions carry him to still greater lengths ; 
and as these are held up and criticised by those 
who are jealous of the attention the author has 
received, they are now in full cry after him so that 
they are able with large numbers of its readers to 
have it judged by these specimen bricks — themselves 
so colored and misshapen as to be scarcely recog- 
nizable. 

Ingersoll's desire for notoriety is never so com- 
pletely gratified as when, in the strong halo of light 
with which Christianity floods every subject pertain- 
ing to it, he is able to obtrude himself between the 
public and a point on which all eyes are focussed. 
He does not scruple to use the most brazen misinter- 
pretation of an author's meaning, for he knows that 
most of his readers will not exert themselves to 
arrive at the true sense of the work he criticises. 



40 THE NEW REFORMATION. 

It cannot be expected that a man who is all of 
the earth, earthy, whose idea of power and good- 
ness is exemplified in man — whose idea of omni- 
science is his own intellectual power — who owns no 
debt of allegiance to a higher power than man ; 
who believes in nothing that defies the crucible of 
his reason to analyze ; who believes that the mater- 
ial universe had no Creator or beginning, and is the 
only eternal existence ; who delights in nothing so 
much as the reiteration that he knows nothing, and 
is easily able to prove it ; how can such a man 
even understand a rational conception of spiritual 
affairs, to say nothing of his presuming to make 
an intelligent estimate for the guidance of his honest 
and conscientious fellows. 

Our author certainly gives a very broad defini- 
tion of lust, by means of which he accuses nearly 
all mankind of it, and stops only after he has con- 
demned the institution of marriage and the repro- 
duction of the race. The boldness with which he 
assumes this hitherto untenanted (and surely still 



THE NEW REFORMATION. 41 

untenable) position is entitled to our admiration, 
though it calls down upon his devoted head unlim- 
ited censure and ridicule, and possibly discredits 
some very fine sentiments vrhich the book contains; 
yet this very outcry has won for it so many read- 
ers that would not otherwise have been attracted 
by it, that its influence for good must be consid- 
erable. 

And now what shall we say of Bellamy's crea- 
tion. It will not do to call it a wild dream, for it 
goes further than the wildest dreamer ever dared, 
and it contains too much method for a dream. As 
a literary production it is unique and stands alone ; 
as a formula for a system of statecraft it is a marvel 
and essays the solution of the most difficult prob- 
lems of life ; and yet how simiple — how compre- 
hensive — how like the Gospel, if you please, is his 
plan ;. his regard for the man erect before God as 
compared to soulless things — dross. He breaks 
the shackles that bind the soul of man to their ser- 
vitude and consigns this aggregation of material 



42 THE NEW REFORMATION. 

things to its rightful place as the servant of human- 
ity. This emancipation of man from the service 
of mammon, leaves him free to serve God ; both 
he cannot serve. How much freer then the un- 
shackled soul of man to render the service and 
worship and praise due to the Creator ! How like 
the thoughts of divinity these ! How glorious to 
be permitted to think them after Him, and to be 
His messenger to a world in a state of slavery nev- 
er contemplated by its Creator ! The earth yields 
her increase and treasure from her surface, and 
from her innermost parts; and as when the morning 
stars first sang together there is enough for all and 
to spare; yet he that is able takes more than enough, 
not for use — for he cannot consume it — leaving 
scores of his brethren, with equal rights before the 
eternal law% in want of what he cannot use. 

This is a faithful picture of our social structure, 
and man will become familiar with the picture, for 
he will study it as he ought to and become convinc- 
ed that, as in religion, preconceived notions must 



THE NEW REFORMATION. 43 

be discarded, if further progress is to be made in 
the pursuit of truth and justice. 

The author of '' Looking Backward " has not 
ventured to meddle with rehgious doctrine, except 
to assert that man is not essentially vile in his nature, 
but retains within him a germ of good which only 
the unfavorable conditions of his social environ- 
ment prevents from kindling into a glow of good 
aspiration and achievment. 

While he has carefully avoided affiliation with 
any religious sect or creed, and has devoted him- 
self entirely to the social problem, he has written 
more in accordance with the true doctrine of Jesus 
than many who have written volumes of theology ; 
for nothing will so thoroughly relieve the minds of 
One-half the human race as the absence of that 
harrowing thought for the morrow, which with them 
is a necessity and perforce is the one object of life. 



^S^^^S^'S>S^W>~S^S^'S^~S) 



NEW REFORMATION. 



And now, after these suggestions of belief, let 
us aspire to the seat of Apollo erstwhile filled by 
Merriman, later by Harrison, and then for a short 
prognostication ere slipping off by the arch agnos- 
tic himself. The faithful historian of the ecclesias- 
tical events of the Nineteenth Century — I mean he 
who shall write for the edification of the readers of 
the Millenial Age, will not declare that in those 
days — that is about the latest decade, — there arose 
certain prophets with but little belief of any kind 
that could be discerned by the searcher after truth, 
but with a vast amount of unbelief of every kind ; 
that these, with certain eminent German critics who 
had spent their best efforts in searching after ma- 
terial to prove that the Gospel was a cunningly 



THE NEW REFORMATION. 45 

devised fiction — finally succeeded in overturning the 
belief of the sect called Christians, although this 
belief had been accepted by all the civilized and 
enlightened nations of the earth, and had even 
penetrated far into heathen countries, for these 
Christians were a sect whose founder taught them 
to go forth into all the world and spread their 
belief. 

Neither will it set forth that these prophets 
and critics established upon the ruins of this belief, 
an unbelief that was more attractive than any 
belief had ever been, and that man became so wise, 
so self reliant, so thoroughly convinced of his own 
wisdom and power that he was able to cast aside 
all belief in certain divine beings and believe solely 
in himself 

He will rather state that in those latter days the 
prediction of Jesus — then nearly two thousand 
years old — were strikingly fulfilled in that prophets 
arose in all the continents of the world ; that these 
held but one belief in common, and that was : each 



46 THE NEW REFORMATIOlSr. 

was persuaded that his pecuUar doctrine or belief 
would inaugurate a reformation which would result 
in the final overthrow of Christianity, that only in 
Africa was there great disturbance and bloodshed 
caused by the effort of that aspirant to prophetical 
honors to acquire for himself a temporal kingdom, 
and force the people to accept his creed; that those 
issuing their prophecies from the continent of 
Europe and the isles of the sea called themselves 
Agnostics (a name and sect long since forgotten), 
and were remarkable only for their effort to deprive 
Christianity of its belief in God and Christ while 
they offered no substitute to fill the void they thus 
strove to create. In their public discussion of the 
subject they were chiefly exercised to prove there 
was no devil; seeming to treat the subject of God 
with indifference. As these Agnostics were prone to 
treat the Creator and Supreme Ruler of the uni- 
verse thus it seems entirely natural that they should 
be solicitous as to the existence of the arch fiend, 
and seek to inform themselves in this regard, for 



THE NEW REFORMATION. 4^ 

although blatantly confident that there existed no 
such being, the great interest they evinced seems 
to betray a lurking fear after all as to his non- 
existence; and if this fear should prove well ground- 
ed they have no doubt, that is they were not agnostic 
as to whose hands they should finally fall into. As 
for the true disciples of Jesus, they were obliged 
to confess to a lack of both interest and information 
on this subject, though they did not fail to inform 
themselves in matters pertaining to the Gospel plan 
of salvation, and they cared but little whether there 
were a devil or not so long as they held their belief 
in the divine Father and Son (for they saw even at 
that early day that the belief in the one must stand 
or fall with a belief in the other), by reason of 
which belief they rested secure in the possession 
of a sure defense against all evil influence. And 
while these agnostics seemed to be endowed with 
either a superfluity of the attributes usually alloted 
to humanity or a deficiency, (it is not now certain 
which) they were not content to live in quiet enjoy- 



48 THE NEW REFORMATION. 

ment of these gifts which they claimed and prized 
so highly ; but were continually harassing the public 
mind which had not this superfluity or deficiency 
and was therefore not seriously disturbed. 

The gift claimed by this sect has been the sub - 
ject of some speculation among recent historians ; 
but is thought to be identical wuth that referred to 
by Agrippa when Paul made his celebrated defense 
before him. However that may be there is no 
doubt that the agitation created and kept up by 
these few persons did much for the upbuilding of 
Christianity, and securing for it general acceptance 
because of the interest it helped to arouse in the 
minds of the people, promoting careful thought 
and inquiry into the true spirit and principles of 
the doctrine of Jesus, which up to the time of which 
we write seems hardly to have been comprehended 
even by all Christians. All this as we now know 
could have but one result; namely, the one before us. 
I have stated what I conceive the New Refor- 
mation will not be, and that is perhaps easier than 



THE NEW REFORMATION. 49 

to say what it will be ; and yet in the light of the 
Gospel which I believe, and with the signs of the 
times before us which Jesus intimates we ought to 
discern, it should not be difficult. 

First of all then the Gospel messengers who 
shall inaugurate this movement, (or rather continue 
it, for I fancy it is already begun), will be men who 
do not delight in the study of abstract and obstruse 
doctrinal and scientific subjects and shooting them 
over the heads of the starving immortals committed 
to their charge ; neither will they be men who, hav- 
ing made logical deductions from the material which 
the Gospel so richly supplies, descend to earth with 
a thud and hasten to reassure their hearers, (whose 
slumbers they haxe rudely disturbed,) by an indif- 
ference to the whole subject that plainly teaches 
that the things proclaimed from the sacred desk, are 
out of place on the profane earth, and must be taken 
cum grano sails when applied to everyday life. 

They will not conform to the narrowness of 
their own souls in the selection and discussion of 



50 THE NEW REFORMATION. 

their subject, and they will not have such harassing 
care of the finances of the church as will deny them 
time or inclination to visit or pray with one of their 
flock. There is great reason to doubt if the woman 
of Samaria lived to day, and would meet a teacher 
from God in an out-of-the-way place, whether she 
would be able to supply him with an audience of 
sufficient dimensions to warrant him in unfolding 
the Gospel truths. 

But these* men will choose for their models 
Jesus and John the Baptist, and they will realize 
that the undiluted and unadulterated milk of 
the Word is the only pabulum for hungry souls; 
as they declare in simple phrase the mighty rev- 
elations from infinity to finite minds ; and they will 
rise to heights of eloquence and descend to depths 
of feeling commensurate with the grandeur, the 
sublimity, the divine character of their theme. 
The same multitudes of all classes will come eager- 
ly to hear the truth, that gathered on the shores of 
Galilee ; but the poor and lowly — the weary and 



THE NEW REFORMATION. 5 1 

heavy laden — will be there in great numbers ; there 
also will go the widow and the fatherless, and none 
will return comfortless. There will be represented 
in these throngs the man of wealth who will come 
to believe that his millions and tens of millions of 
gold and stocks and bonds, and houses and 
lands are the property of God ; and that he 
holds them as a steward in a charge, subject 
to any call the owner may make upon them. 
He will own every man a brother, with equal right 
to a comfortable share of the earth's increase with 
himself, while he admits he can only utilize for 
himself an insignificant portion of his great posses- 
sions ; and that a man's greatness consisteth not in 
the abundance of things which the world hath per- 
mitted him to accumulate — despite its earnest efforts 
to possess them — but rather, in the gifts that God 
has supplied to him. Doubtless, even now some 
of these vast aggregations of wealth are being 
formed which in due course of events will come to 
the rightful owner, 



52 THE NEW REFORMATION. 

The lives of these messengers will be modeled 
after the Savior's ; that is, they will exemplify that to 
be a Christian is to be like Christ, who ^' came to 
minister." 

Around these earnest men, consecrated soul 
and mind and body to their work, will gather a 
host of such men as sojourned at Jerusalem after 
the day of Pentecost, and boldly declared the whole 
counsel of God. They will be ready and eager, like 
them, to do anything for the advancement of the 
Kingdom of God which is the temporal and spiritual 
good of man ; they will count no sacrifice of time or 
treasure too great, and will not reckon life itself so 
dear to them that they will not eagerly place it on 
the altar, if thus they can best advance the interests 
of their fellow men and thus promote the glory of 
God. With such a force at work, what man can num- 
ber the multitudes that will believe and accept the ob- 
vious truths of the Gospel when preached to them by 
voice and hand so that it is apparent that only an un- 
selfish interest in their welfare is the moving spirit. 



THE NEW REFORMATION. 53 

After these labors shall have achieved marked 
success, and when the leaven of righteousness shall 
have pervaded the whole lump of humanity, and 
the matin Sabbath chimes shall call the worshipful 
in our cities to service in the vast sanctuaries, of a 
style of magnificence suited to the taste and means 
of the worshippers, and the great organs shall thun- 
der forth their solemnly glad greetings of praise — 
these sounds, then, as now, will swell and roll into the 
rafters and along the aisles and over the rows of 
pews, and into the ears of the merchant, the man- 
ufacturer, the mechanic and the thrifty laborer ; and 
they will also reach — as they fail to now — the joyful, 
listening ears of the masses of the people of God's 
creation, then and there assembled. In short, the 
world which now passes by on the other side, on its 
way to a more congenial resort, will stop at the 
church portals and enter in, sure of a place and a 
welcome there. 

To those who may think these pictures over- 
drawn, I submit that in our own day the movement 



54 THE NEW REFORMATION. 

has begun; and a few — a very few — such Gospel 
messengers are in plain sight of all the world. It 
is not necessary to name them, if we could ; the 
world knows them, and some of their utterances, 
after filling the ears and feeding the souls of the 
multitudes who listen, go echoing round the civil- 
ized world to those who read. These have only 
begun the work and they can only plant and water 
while the Spirit giveth the increase. Far be it from 
me to underrate the efforts of those whose field is 
necessarily circumscribed, but who are doing their 
best. All such have their place in this work, and 
are worthy of high honor. 

A potential factor in this work already begun, 
is that department of literature which, while it af- 
fords matter specially attractive to the young, sup- 
plies, interwoven with this, valuable instruction with 
regard to living a consistent Christian life, drawn 
directly from the inspired Word, and illustrated by 
living examples of the incarnate Christian spirit. 
The effect of these writings on the next ^generation 



i 



THE NEW REFORMATION. 



55 



can hardly be overestimated. This of course does 
not include the mountains of trash written by good 
people, often with the best intentions, oftener with 
selfish motives ; but the wheat is easily separated 
from the chaff if careful effort is made. 

In apportioning the work among the laborers, 
who shall bear the heat and burden of the day in 
the initial work of this reformation, the lightest work 
must be given to those who at present sustain the 
lowest official relations to each one of the individual 
church societies throughout the land. It is unbe • 
coming to further discuss the cause for this, except 
to say that it is their careful and persistent culture 
of leaves, to the neglect of the fruit; for whatever 
the failures of the nonprofessor to familiarize him- 
self with scriptural lore, he has thoroughly learned 
the text, " Therefore by their fruits ye shall know 
them." He is not always or often a just judge ; 
but that does not materially affect the result of an 
almost total loss of influence where it could do the 
most good. 



56 THE NEW REFORMATION. 

As we ascend the scale of officially from the 
lowest rank until that of bishop is reached, we are 
apt in our ascent to meet with the highest order of 
christian manhood who either ignores his creed or 
boldly preaches the Gospel from a platform in front 
of it. 

A few Sabbaths ago Bishop Potter, at the close 
of such a sermon, to an audience largely composed 
of the wealth and aristocracy of our city, delivered 
an exhortation embodying many of the sentiments 
herein set forth ; but they were necessarily couched 
in such vague and general terms as to make little 
impression. In fine relief to the gingerly handling 
of the rich by ministers, stands oul the magnificent 
arraignment of affluent Christianity and its apol- 
ogists, by Bishop Huntingdon, in the October 
Forum, This is a notable application of the spirit 
of Christ's teaching to the abatement of social evil 
by this fearless servant of the Most High God, 
speaking from his place on the pinnacle of the tem- 
ple of those children of the kingdom most esteemed 



THE NEW REFORMATION. 57 

for their wealth and exclusiveness. His familiarity 
with and tender sympathy for the woes of the 
''unprivileged," are preeminently Christ-like; such 
an utterance found in such a place coming from 
such a source, is one of the most significant of all 
the signs of the times. After this what may we not 
hope for. 






OTHER AGENCIES. 



HENRY GEORGE.— BELLAMY.— THE 
TOILERS.— THE FARMERS. 

Independent of these direct forces, and doubt- 
less affording indispensable assistance to them, and 
perhaps more powerful than they in bringing about 
favorable conditions for the successful prosecution 
of their labors, are certain other agencies which will 
surely take an important part in this reformation. 
In this country of ours we have been so long ac- 
customed to congratulate ourselves on having done 
so much to assure to man the rights that the Creator 
vested in him, that we turn with a new sensation to 
consider how much remains to be done; for as we 



THE NEW REFORMATION. 5^ 

grow greater and richer, the wealth which was at 
first of small proportion and nearly equally divided, 
has become great and unequally distributed ; the 
great bulk of it being possessed by the few, while 
only a small portion remains in the hands of the 
many. The result, as might be expected, has en- 
gendered great discontent among the many, culmi- 
nating in various plans for their protection against 
the further increase, as well as the ultimate reduc- 
tion, and even the final annihilation of this discrep- 
ancy in the condition of the two classes. These 
have been met by counter plans in the interests of 
the few intended to perpetuate this discrepancy and 
even to increase it indefinitely. 

The plans of the many, if wisely laid and uni- 
versally concurred in by themselves need brook no 
failure; but they have been reared in the narrow 
school of poverty, and seem slow to grasp a view of 
sufficient breadth to enable them to deal with the ex- 
istent situation. The discontent waxes greater and 
greater, and the mutterings grow louder and more 



6o THE NEW REFORMATION. 

frequent as the disparity continues to increase. The 
evidence of unrest is now so great as to enforce at- 
tention from all classes; and in this crisis men of broad 
views, in and outside the ranks of the malcontents, 
have devised various comprehensive plans for their 
relief. These are necessarily of such a different 
pattern from anything that history supplies, and 
involve such extreme and radical assumption of 
rights by the many, which are now, without dispute, 
held and enjoyed by the few, that they are received 
by the great majority of all classes with great hesi- 
tation and distrust, as a remedy for existing evils. 

Of the schemes for social reform, which at this 
time are claiming most general attention throughout 
the civilized world, that of Henry George was the 
first. His plan is the abolition of all individual 
ownership of land, the title to revert to the govern- 
ment whence it came originally, and the occupant 
or user of the land to pay to the government a 
rental, which shall take the place of all taxation; this 
ground rent or tax to be the property of the gov- 



THE NEW REFORMATION. 6l 

ernment, and therefore the property of the people 
collectively, who could divide it or otherwise 
dispose of it for their collective benefit ; this 
briefly stated is his single tax theory. He contrib- 
utes several volumes to reform literature, chiefly in 
calling attention to current abuses of the money 
power, involving the control of political machinery 
and otherwise showing the necessity for reform. 
He advocates national ownership of railroads, and 
while he calls his land project the first great reform, 
does not limit his plan to this, but intimates that 
other correlative reforms would follow spontane- 
ously. 

The next plan is that of Edward Bellamy, al- 
ready referred to. There is usually but one opinion 
as to the correctness of its underlying principle, 
namely, the universal brotherhood and equality of 
man. The ideal state, as pictured by him, is so 
much beyond comparison with our present institu- 
tions, that there can be no question of its desirabil- 
ity. The argument between him and his critics is 



62 THE NEW REFORMATION. 

on the possibility of evolving such a condition of 
affairs from those now existing, and it is an inspir- 
ing spectacle to see this typical American theorist, 
with his clear, convincing logic and evident mastery 
of his subject, proceed to quietly annihilate the 
sophistry of the intellectual athletes who conjure 
up difficulties in the consummation of the effects de- 
scribed in his Utopia. 

His scheme is well known to be a gigantic co- 
operative trust commensurate in extent and identi- 
cal with the national government; in fact he conceives 
the management of such a trust to be the highest 
function of government. The operatives consist of 
every citizen, male and female, between the ages of 
twenty-one and forty- five. These do not participate 
in the management, since it is controlled by officers 
elected from and by that portion of the people who 
have passed the age that relieves them from partic- 
ipation in active duties, in order that they may be 
entirely removed from any temptation to corruption 
in discharging the duties of office. It comprises 



THE NEW REFORMATION. 63 

every department of industrial and commercial in- 
terests, and every phase of individual, national and 
international affairs. In it money is unknown, and 
the precious metals valueless. The model for this 
ideal commonwealth is the system used in controlling 
a great army ; and he argues that we ought to go to 
work as we go to war — by a system of co-operation 
for a common purpose instead of a lack of system 
by which each man is striving to impoverish all his 
neighbors in an effort to enrich himself, in which 
if he does not succeed it is only for lack of ability 
and not on account of any consideration for his 
neighbor. It is by far the most comprehensive, 
simple and thoughtful of all the schemes for the 
solution of the social enigma. 

And now, having briefly considered what has 
been planned, let us look at what has been done. 

Henry George's teachings have found disciples 
all over the country, and being first in the field of 
social reform have made such progress that they 
held a general convention in New York, September 



64 THE NEW REFORMATION. 

I St, for the purpose of national organization. As- 
sembled in Cooper Union were delegates to the 
number of four hundred and twenty, representing 
thirty-three states and the District of Columbia. 
It is not their purpose at this time to establish a 
single tax party, but they seem to rely on what can 
be done without such action. In fact, there is a 
lurking suspicion in certain quarters that Henry 
George has not proven himself equal, as a practical 
leader of men, to the working out of the theories 
he presents with so much ability. His ultimatum 
as reported in the daily press at that time was : 
'' Single tax and free trade are the cure for the dis- 
satisfaction existing between capital and labor." 

The seed sown by Bellamy took first root in 
Massachusetts and California, and there are now 
five hundred clubs of various degrees of strength 
in twenty-seven states. The organs are in Boston 
and Los Angeles; and while a perusal of these 
periodicals is apt to disclose a vast amount of im- 
practical theory and numberless wild plans and sugf- 



THE NEW REFORMATION. 65 



gestions in direct contrast to the volume that made 
these publications possible, yet it also inspires a 
feeling that a wide spread movement is brewing, 
embracing within its scope many of the elements 
of national popularity only as yet in swaddling 
clothes, from whence, declare our wise men and 
statesmen it will never emerge. This, however, is 
not a foregone conclusion, but is yet to be deter- 
mined. 

With the advent of its third year the Boston 
Nationalist Magazine takes on a more practical as- 
pect, and being enlarged and otherwise improved, 
approaches more nearly the character of the great 
vehicles for the dissemination of the advanced 
thought of the world, which have grown to such 
magnificent proportions in our metropolis. 

A significant feature of the contents of these 
publications is that reflecting the sentiments of the 
leading newspapers and the utterances of represen- 
tative churchmen and statesmen of our day who 
-cannot be charged with partisanism of any sort. 



66 THE NEW REFORMATION. 

These are not unqualified approvals of national- 
ism, but temperate statements of facts in regard to 
existent social evils and abuses for which the exist- 
ing political organizations afford no remedy ; and 
the fact is we have made a long stride in the direc- 
tion of curing these evils when we have admitted 
their existence, and begun to search earnestly for 
a remedy. 

They have not as yet perfected a national organ- 
ization or made any concerted effort, or apparent- 
ly any sort of effort to obtain or assume political 
power, and viewed as a popular movement, its pro- 
gress is still insignificant. Americans are so dis- 
trustful of wild theorists, who, under the guise of 
reform, propose startling, impractical and destruc- 
tive innovations on the established social order that 
they are prone to stand aloof from all that looks 
suspicious. 

Bellamy himself is calmly confident of the result 
as witness the closing sentences of his reply to 
M. De Laveleye, in the July Contemporary Mag- 



THE NEW REFORMATION. 67 

azine, of London, a periodical of world-wide circu- 
lation : '* Unless humanity be destined to pass 
under some at present inconceivable form of des- 
potism, there is but one issue possible, The world 
and everything that is in it will, ere long, be recog- 
nized as the common property of all, and be under- 
taken and administered for the equal benefit of all. 
Nationalism is a plan for establishing and carrying 
on such an administration." 

The daily papers are wont to come to us these 
autumnal mornings, freighted each day with the 
complaints of some body of the sovereign people who 
have organized for protection against what they 
conceive to be the oppression of capital ; these in- 
clude almost every variety of skilled and unskilled 
labor in the cities and towns, and in this broad 
country of ours, we are seldom without a strike of 
more or less magnitude among these citizens to se- 
cure some right which they believe has been ap- 
propriated by their employers. Their leaders are 
not always the wisest among them, and their up- 



68 THE NEW REFORMATION. 

rising* does not always accomplish its object ; for 
although the general cause of discontent is the same, 
the protests come singly and instead of a general 
engagement all along the line, the contest assumes 
the form of a desultory skirmish among the outposts, 
Avhile capital has learned that only in concerted ac- 
tion is safety; so that when employers organize, 
they noW' do so by combining the great bulk of 
capital employed in one branch of industry in the 
nation, and their alliance is not solely against the 
workmen, but against the whole world outside their 
combination. 

An organization apparently led by wiser coun- 
sels than these workmen, and the only one repre- 
senting both capital and labor in the same individual 
is the Farmers' Alliance. This powerful and pop- 
ular movement immediately invaded the domain 
of politics, and is beginning already to inspire 
gloomy forebodings among the politicians, as it 
promises to prove a factor in national politics and 
even threatens to hold the balance of power in the 



THE NEW REFORMATION, 69 

coming House of Representatives. It has also 
suggested a new phase of poHtics in the SoHd South 
— with a governor or two in sight in the very hot- 
beds of secession — in which region and the west it 
is strongest, though it is proposed to take the 
whole country in its scope. Even the astute and 
versatile Chauncey Depew thought it worth his while 
the other day, to tender some valuable advice about 
organization to the farmers of his state ; but these 
men in their race for wealth and power having 
sown the wind, are likely to reap the whirlwind in 
the ultimate dissipation of their power. The Alliance 
is fully organized in twenty-tw^o states, and they 
have two million names on their rolls. Their com- 
plaint against the general government is that *'its 
financial policy is peculiarly adapted to further the 
interests of the speculative class, at the expense and 
to the detriment of the productive class." 

They begin with a demand for a law providing 
a sub-treasury in each county in the nation where 
each farmer may deposit his total product of cotton, 



70 THE NEW REFORMATION. 

wheat, oats, corn and tobacco, and receive therefor 
a loan of four-fifths its market value at a nominal 
interest of one per cent, per annum. 

Senator Stanford, one of the millionaire princes 
who occupy a seat in the U. S. Senate, has 
been moved to offer a bill for the relief of the 
farmers, empowering the government to loan to 
them a sum equal to one-half the value of their 
land, at the rate of two per cent, per annum, the 
government holding a first lien against the land for 
security. 

Now if it were possible to control all these dit- 
ferent organizations formed for a common purpose, 
and with a common interest into combined, careful 
and discreet action, the difficulty in making a wise 
adjustment of the existing causes of discontent 
would be reduced to a minimum ; for after all it is 
only necessary for each individual member to dis- 
creetly, reverently and unselfishly exercise the 
priceless and potential privilege with which the 
Creator has endowed each one of them^ and lo ! 



THE NEW REFORMATION. 71 

the will of God and of the sovereign people, what- 
ever it may be, is done. 

Without presuming to discuss the subject, we 
will glance at several features peculiar to our social 
system, which are themselves supplying ample 
arguments in favor of a radical change. 

The first is our political machinery. Nearly 
every state supplies at least an occasional instance 
in which its executive and legislative departments 
are dominated by some master schemer who has 
learned that it is possible by a judicious, lavish and 
atrocious use of money and patronage, to complete- 
ly subvert the will of the people in the selection of 
officials, and the adoption of laws, and bend it to the 
furtherance of schemes for the personal emolument 
of himself and his clique from the gubernatorial 
candidate down to the ubiquitous ward heeler. 

Another flagrant abuse of the money power is 
shown by our railroad system, and if it is not well 
known, it ought to be, that the railroads control 
both state and national legislation when thev choose 



72 THE NEW REFORMATION. 

SO to do, by a corrupt use of money. This is not 
so alarming in what has been done as in what ma}- 
be done when their power and demands increase. 

The trusts also are guilty of this charge, 
and are serving well the object of their creation in 
that they are realizing vast sums of money for their 
projectors, while the facility with which they crush 
out all competition in the shape of independent 
capital, proves that the trust is the most successful 
medium for the prosecution of trade. Another 
feature, is the enormous disparity between the actual 
cost of producing many articles in great quantity, 
and their cost to the consumer. The effect of this 
is disastrous to the poor man who is apt to be a 
consumer, while the rich man is as apt to be a pro- 
ducer. 

Finally, the waste represented by the difference 
between that amount of the earth's product neces- 
sary to secure a maximum of comfort to the indi- 
vidual consumer and the amount actually expended 
per capita by the privileged classes; then look at 



THE NEW REFORMATION. 73: 

the millions of either unused or unproductive acres 
all over our land ; unproductive only because the 
owners of this land have not the means (that is the 
capital and labor) to skillfully cultivate it — then at 
the millions of unemployed and those employed at 
starvation wages in our cities, and we need nothing 
further to convince us that the times are sadly out 
of joint. 






WHAT SHALL WE DO? 

But the remedy ! The remedy is with us — ■ 
the people. The great heart of this great people 
has shown wonderful possibilities in the past by 
casting off a great incubus which had securely fas- 
tened itself upon our social life; that duty being- 
disposed of, let us aspire to greater deeds. The 
issue is impending, and act we must ere long. But 
first let us educate ourselves, that we may act wisely 
and justly. We need not go to school or college, 
or yet to the record of the past, for all the light that 
supplies to us is carefully preser\' ed in the sacred 
writings, the practical portion of which is the Gospel. 
This offers to us the only solution of all our diffi- 
culties ; in this direction only do we find comfort and 
relief in searching for a remedy. Let us study it in 



THE NEW REFORMATION. 75 

the light flashed from the source of divine inspiration 
upon our hearts. In this light let us also study our 
environment and our neighbors' rights. The pro- 
gress of the world in the direction indicated by the 
example and teachings of Jesus will now be greater 
than ever before, and if we nobly do our part, Are 
may at one great effort outstrip the record of ages 
in raising man to that plane of life chosen for him 
by his Creator, and lost to him only by his failure 
to understand, believe and obey His word. 

And now to the patient reader, the writer avers 
what is doubtless apparent, that he has made no- 
attempt to assume erudition or even acquaintance 
with the modern popular works on theology. He 
assumes that life is too short for this, and that it is 
neither necessary nor helpful, but the reverse. 

If he has learned anything of value it is because 
he has searched the Gospel, expecting there to find 
the highest form of wisdom, and was not disappoint- 
ed. He writes from the standpoint of a practical 
business man, believing that in this wondrous age. 



76 THE NEW REFORMATION. 

^ve can, and ought to, discern the signs of the times, 
in order that we may take our place in the blood- 
less contest for the right which seems to be ap- 
proaching. He knows that the Scribe and the 
Pharisee, and the Doctors of the Law, as well as 
those who least revere sacred things, will deprecate 
this association of holy with secular affairs; but he 
.maintains that in their very nature they are not in- 
congruous, but inseparable. They will also de- 
plore such discussion by one not set apart to reli- 
gious work and laying no claim to holiness ; but he 
will have attained the summit of all ambitious hopes 
if, in the summing up, it can be truthfully said of 
him. ''That man did something for the weal of 
iiuman kind." 



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